Nigeria Taps StanChart to Replace China Loans for Rail Projects
- Government asks StanChart to help arrange funding for railways
- Rail projects have already been contracted to Chinese firm
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Nigeria’s government is in talks with Standard Chartered Plc about arranging funding for two rail projects expected to cost as much as $14.4 billion, replacing earlier plans to source the loans from Chinese banks, Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi said.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the London-based lender are discussing financing for the upgrade of a narrow-gauge track in eastern Nigeria and a new standard-gauge line on the coast, Amaechi said in an interview. The government has already concluded contracts with the Nigerian unit of state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp., or CCECC, for both deals.